2 syllables: de, grade. Stress on grade.
dig-RAYD
/dɪˈɡɹeɪd/
degrade is pronounced dig-RAYD (/dɪˈɡɹeɪd/). It has two syllables (de-grade), with the stress on "grade". Degrade is a verb meaning to lower in dignity, quality, or value, or to wear away or break down. It often refers to treating someone with disrespect or to corrosive processes that erode materials. In everyday use, it can describe moral or social decline, or literal deterioration over time in physics or chemistry contexts.
Degrade is a verb meaning to lower in dignity, quality, or value, or to wear away or break down. It often refers to treating someone with disrespect or to corrosive processes that erode materials. In everyday use, it can describe moral or social decline, or literal deterioration over time in physics or chemistry contexts.
- Common Mistake: Misplacing stress, leading to di-GRADE vs de-GRADE. Correction: practice the strong secondary syllable stress and maintain a crisp /ɡ/ release. - Common Mistake: Weak final /d/ or dropping the final consonant in rapid speech. Correction: end with a clean tongue tip contact to the alveolar ridge and a released /d/. - Common Mistake: Incorrect handling of /ɡr/ blend; learners may substitute /ɡ/ with /k/ or /ɹ/. Correction: articulate a definite /ɡ/ then move to /r/ with tongue blade near alveolar ridge. - Common Mistake: In some environments, vowel length may be misrepresented; correction: hold /eɪ/ as a true diphthong, ending with a short /d/.
"The policy changes could degrade the quality of service if not properly implemented."
"Rubble and pollution degrade the beauty of the landscape."
"He felt insulted and degraded by the officer’s curt remarks."
Pronounced di-GRADE, with primary stress on the second syllable. IPA US/UK/AU: /dɪˈɡreɪd/. Mouth positions: start with a light, tucked initial /d/ followed by a clear /ɪ/, then the stressed /ˈɡreɪd/ where /ɡ/ is a hard gagging stop before a long diphthong /eɪ/ leading to /d/. In connected speech you may hear a very slight reduction of the first vowel in fast speech, but keep the second syllable strong for recognition. Audio reference: feel free to listen on pronunciation resources and match the /ɪ/ onset before the stressed /ˈɡreɪd/.” ,
Common errors: misplacing the stress as di-GRADE vs de-GRADE; pronouncing /ɡreɪd/ as /ɡrid/ or dropping the /d/ at the end in casual speech. Also some learners misarticulate the /ɡ/ with a softer stop or blend the /ɡ/ into /d/ as /dɪˈriːd/ or misread the /eɪ/ as a pure /e/ instead of a diphthong. Correction: emphasize the /ɡ/ consonant cluster before the /reɪd/; keep /reɪ/ as a tight diphthong and end with a clear /d/. Practice slow, then speed up while maintaining the /ˈreɪ/ vowel quality.
US/UK/AU share the /dɪˈɡreɪd/ pattern, but UK and AU may have slightly shorter rhoticity impact and a crisper /d/ release. In some UK varieties, the /eɪ/ diphthong can be a slightly more centralized [eə] or longer; AU often leans toward a tighter vowel and more clipped rhythm, with non-rhotic tendencies in some speakers, though many speakers are rhotic. Overall, primary stress remains on the second syllable; the difference is in vowel quality and intonation around the word. Use standard IPA /dɪˈɡreɪd/ as baseline in all three but listen to local exemplars for subtle vowel shifts.
The difficulty lies in the post-initial consonant cluster /ɡr/ after the /d/ and the diphthong /eɪ/ that travels into a final /d/. Many learners mispronounce the /ɡ/ as /k/ or misplace the stress leading to di-GRADE or de-GRADE confusion. Also, the /ɡr/ blend requires precise tongue positioning: back of tongue contact for /ɡ/ and a rapid, rounded movement into /r/ if present in your dialect. Focus on a clean /ɡ/ release followed by a crisp /reɪd/ with the final /d/ clearly released.
Is there a silent letter or silent component in degrade? No. The word has all phonemes pronounced: /d/ initial, /ɪ/ vowel, /ɡ/ consonant, /r/ sometimes slight depending on accent, /eɪ/ diphthong, and final /d/. The key is producing a strong /ɡ/ and a precise /eɪ/ followed by a clearly released /d/. For many learners, the /ɡr/ blend is where the effort goes; practice chunking: /dɪ/ + /ɡreɪd/ with a sharp /d/ at the end.
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- US: rhotic, /dɪˈɡreɪd/ with a slightly longer /ɪ/ onset in careful speech, stress on the second syllable. - UK: /dɪˈɡreɪd/, with crisper /d/ release and slightly tighter vowel; non-rhotic contexts may influence preceding syllables. - AU: /dɪˈɡreɪd/, often more clipped rhythm, similar vowel to UK but with broader intonation and a tendency toward more centralized vowels in some speakers; rhoticity varies. - IPA references: baseline /dɪˈɡreɪd/ in all three; note subtle vowel quality differences: US /ɪ/ then /eɪ/; UK/AU can show reduced vowel length in rapid speech. - Tips: keep /d/ clear, maintain /ɪ/ before stressed /ɡreɪd/, and avoid attaching /r/ to the following vowel unless dialect requires rhoticity.
Degrade comes from the Old French degrade (late 14th century), from de- ‘down, away’ + grade ‘step, walk, degree’, from Latin gradus. The root grad- meaning ‘step, degree’ survives in words like gradual and graduate. In Middle English, the sense expanded from “to lower” to “to bring into disrepute,” aligning with social/evaluative meanings. The modern figurative sense of “to degrade” as to demean or debase emerged in the early 17th century, often in moral or social critique. The term interacts with scientific contexts where materials erode or corrode (e.g., degradation of polymers). Across centuries, de- prefixes plus gradations of value carried ethical and physical implications; the word maintained its core sense of downward movement, whether in social status or material integrity. First known uses appear in legal and moral discourse of the 1500s, and by the 1600s it appeared in broader English as a verb meaning to reduce in rank or quality. The Latinate backbone of degrade connects closely to other English derivatives such as degradation, degraded, and degrading, which retain both literal and figurative downward movement connotations.
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Words that rhyme with "degrade"
-ade sounds
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